The EU's data agency looked at what percentage of the population in each region, county, and municipality in Europe obtained a "tertiary education" — which means they have a degree or higher education equivalent — for the ages 25-64.

The results were mixed.

No regions in France placed within the top 15 but Britain boasted a large collection of regions where over half the population received a degree or equivalent, making it part of the most highly educated regions in Europe.

The data is quite detailed, drilling down to specific regions. We've followed the Eurostat grouping of regions in the data, with original language names appearing in brackets where applicable.

Eurostat uses NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) which is "a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU for the purpose of socio-economic analyses of the regions." For this part of the data, Eurostat looked at NUTS 2 regions, which fall under the category of "basic regions for the application of regional policies."

9. Helsinki (Helsinki-Uusimaa), Finland — 51.3%. The capital and largest city of Finland is in the region of Uusimaa, which boasts a highly educated population.

8. Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire — 51.7%. The three counties are affluent commuter belts. Oxfordshire is also home to one of the world's most prestigious universities, Oxfordshire also has a large commuter population, which travel into London for work as well as in the local area.

7. North eastern Scotland — 52.2%. Aberdeen, the third most populous city in Scotland, has a high ratio of highly educated professional workers, concentrated in the oil industry, as well as a lot of students at the university.

6. Outer London west and north west—53.2%. The regions hold a number of affluent areas such as Richmond, which is home to a lot of high net worth individuals. It also features Harrow, which has the famous private school of the same name.

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5. Oslo and Akershus (Oslo og Akershus), Norway — 53.5%. Oslo is both a county and a municipality and is economic and governmental centre of Norway. Akershus borders it and has half a million inhabitants.